A-League fixtures shows FFA has moved to counteract the Big Bash League’s summer dominance
June 9, 2016 12:00pm
Matt WindleyHerald Sun


Can the A-League ruin the Big Bash parade?
THE A-League has moved to counteract the Big Bash summer juggernaut by scheduling more games across more days over the school holiday period.

Cricket’s domestic Twenty20 competition has taken the Australian sporting landscape by storm in recent years, dominating the airwaves with a game almost every night from mid-December to the end of January.

And while there’s only so much Football Federation Australia can do with just five games per round at its disposal, playing 10 matches over 11 days around the Christmas-New Year period and stretching out other rounds over Thursday-Sunday for the rest of the school holidays is a start.


Big Bash matches drew huge crowds last summer
Melbourne Victory will play Central Coast at AAMI Park on a Wednesday night (December 28) during this period and Newcastle in Geelong on a Monday night (January 2).

A-LEAGUE FIXTURES IN FULL

Melbourne City plays two Thursday games (away to Adelaide on January 12 and at home against Central Coast on January 19) as well as a Tuesday night game against Perth (December 27) at AAMI Park and a game on New Year’s Eve against the Mariners in Gosford.



The warring summer sports will go head-to-head in Sin City on January 14 when soccer’s Sydney derby at Allianz Stadium is played at the same time as cricket’s Sydney derby takes place next door at the SCG.

But next season’s first Sydney FC-Western Sydney clash — a Round 1 blockbuster — will also be a point of interest in Melbourne given it will be the first of its kind taken to the 83,000-capacity ANZ Stadium.

The highest crowd for an A-League game was 55,436 for the 2007 grand final at Etihad Stadium between Victory and Adelaide, while the highest non-finals game crowd was 50,333 when Victory played Sydney at Etihad in 2006.


Can the ALeague challenge the Big Bash for crowd this summer?
But both Sydney and Western Sydney chiefs have spoken of their desire to smash A-League crowd records with what could be a sellout spectacle.

FFA has provided more flexibility for teams playing in the Asian Champions League, giving Adelaide, Western Sydney and Brisbane a week off in a Round 23 line-up that has been split over two weeks.

But the age-old international break debate is set to rage on again as the season kicks off in between two massive Socceroos World Cup qualifiers.

Australia is away to Saudi Arabia on Thursday, October 6 before it plays Japan at home on Tuesday, October 11.

Roar and Victory kick off the A-League season at Suncorp Stadium on Friday, October 7.

thank goodness there are more games on different days during the summer holidays. i swear last summer every time i turned the tv on there was a big bash game on tv or atleast some sort of cricket on and then when i look to the a-league fixtures there were no games 4 days a week.

the two sydney derbies on the same night will be a cracker. expect a lower crowd than usually though maybe 39k, because all your eastern suburbs scc trust folks will use their scc ticket to go support their daddy's cricket team in pink rather than go to the derby.